Roku 4 remote batteries draining out?

[ivtec]

Hi guys;i have a big issue with R4 remote control,besides the issue of not always turning on R4,also is eating butteries,when i got the R4 i noticed that the batteries that came with the box did not last more than a few days, i did not give it much importance ,i thought the batteries that came with the box were weak already,some times it happens,but after putting new batteries they drained in a couple days, in 30 days or so 4 batteries went dead ,
what you thing about this?

[stj]

Re: Roku 4 remote batteries draining out?

open it, check the electrolytic and the led
and check the led with a camera - see if it's glowing slightly indicating a leaky drive transistor
that or check the led pins wih a voltmeter to see if it's getting constant power

[vinceroger69]

Re: Roku 4 remote batteries draining out?

maybe worth asking on the roku forum aswell i know from reading people had this same issue with roku 3 remotes
https://www.reddit.com/r/Roku/

[ivtec]

Re: Roku 4 remote batteries draining out?

open it, check the electrolytic and the led
and check the led with a camera - see if it's glowing slightly indicating a leaky drive transistor
that or check the led pins wih a voltmeter to see if it's getting constant power

Thanks stj; but i just got this a month ago,i don't want to mess with it yet, i think i'm going to connect a 6 vdc adapter,i don't have to use it much cause my 2 R1 remotes do most the control job.

[ivtec]

Re: Roku 4 remote batteries draining out?

maybe worth asking on the roku forum aswell i know from reading people had this same issue with roku 3 remotes
https://www.reddit.com/r/Roku/

thanks vinceroger69; yes i red that,some people say to have the remote upside down cause the sensor activates when move around the remote and i seat all the time very close to the remote control,it doesn't make sense but with roku4 nothing wonders me no more,and i only have this R4 for a month.

[shovenose]

Re: Roku 4 remote batteries draining out?

Can you contact Roku and get a replacement? There must be some sort of warranty on this thing!

[ivtec]

Re: Roku 4 remote batteries draining out?

Hi guys; here some insight on the issue that most everybody that has gotten Roku 4 won't turn on unless unplug and re-plug from wall outlet,
after some investigation i found out that it's not the R4 Unit to blame but we should blame it on the Remote control that after a a day or so drains the batteries and will not have enough strength to activate the unit,no wonder i could turn R4 with R1 remote control,anybody that owns R4 you don't need to return the box but rather return the remote control,which i don't think roku has a solution for it!

[chargfox]

Re: Roku 4 remote batteries draining out?

There is a simple fix for most people with this issue. I threw a set away of batteries after one week. I almost threw away the second set. I had removed and reinserted them but they still didn't work. But then I "rolled" them over in the compartment and it came back on strong. The battery compartment is poorly designed and the batteries easily shift around. So before anyone throws another set of batteries out, first readjust them, attach a piece of foam to the inside of the battery cover so they cannot budge, and see if that's the issue.

[mmartell]

Re: Roku 4 remote batteries draining out?

How do batteries drain faster when not making contact ?

[chargfox]

Re: Roku 4 remote batteries draining out?

They don't. But unless you try them in another device or check the contact in the remote, they may not actually be drained.

I didn't know about this issue the first time and threw perfectly good batteries away after less than two weeks usage. I thought maybe I'd just used old batteries.

The next ones however were brand new and quit working in one week. After I removed and reinstalled them and they still didn't work, I prepared to toss them as well. But there was no way I was going to use something requiring weekly battery replacements and I went looking for the reason this was happening. Since I wasn't using headphones, I knew that wasn't the issue.

Then I found out about the loose compartment, so I put them in again but still couldn't get the remote to work. So I jiggled and rolled them around a bit to make sure, and as I started rolling them over, the remote came on.

I just cut a small piece of foam from my memory foam mattress topper and placed it under the cover and they don't move at all now.

It doesn't seem to affect all of the Roku remotes. My daughter got her hers at the same time and she's had no problems with it. Headphones draining the battery and the loose compartment losing connection are the issues most people are having with the batteries. I'm just happy that I didn't have to buy stock in Duracell.

[ivtec]

Re: Roku 4 remote batteries draining out?

They don't. But unless you try them in another device or check the contact in the remote, they may not actually be drained.

I didn't know about this issue the first time and threw perfectly good batteries away after less than two weeks usage. I thought maybe I'd just used old batteries.

The next ones however were brand new and quit working in one week. After I removed and reinstalled them and they still didn't work, I prepared to toss them as well. But there was no way I was going to use something requiring weekly battery replacements and I went looking for the reason this was happening. Since I wasn't using headphones, I knew that wasn't the issue.

Then I found out about the loose compartment, so I put them in again but still couldn't get the remote to work. So I jiggled and rolled them around a bit to make sure, and as I started rolling them over, the remote came on.

I just cut a small piece of foam from my memory foam mattress topper and placed it under the cover and they don't move at all now.

It doesn't seem to affect all of the Roku remotes. My daughter got her hers at the same time and she's had no problems with it. Headphones draining the battery and the loose compartment losing connection are the issues most people are having with the batteries. I'm just happy that I didn't have to buy stock in Duracell.

Thanks for this late info; but i have a fluke 87 DM and i always check batteries before i through them out,and in this case they were complete drained,and Roku Remote is bad.

[MaelstromGod]

Re: Roku 4 remote batteries draining out?

I'm going to find a way to contact Roku and let them know that I am going to modify my Roku 4 remote to include a micro USB port on the remote and a port on the ROKU 4 if necessary. Charging batteries separately and going through that process seems kind of an inconvenience and an oversight (either by accident or by design) by the engineers of ROKU. It was possibly on purpose that ROKU decided to not design a rechargeable high capacity battery option for cost of manufacturing or simplicity reasons. But I see a need for it as the always on call radio frequency and motion sensors and Headphone option draws immense amounts of energy from the standard Alkaline batteries.

As tons of reports come in that many ROKU users LOVE the responsiveness and low latency and omnidirectional field of operation that normal infrared remotes simply cannot match. Since the internal radio inside the remote is a 2 way (for the headphones mostly) that I'm sure it needs to be in a listening mode most of the time.

From an outsiders thought about the engineering aspect of the ROKU: I believe that the ROKU design was with the remote being in the center of the experience. Simplicity and built in functionality. It seems their goal was a visceral and texture based experience. Eyes to hands. I personally love the crisp responsive experience but at the cost of replacing batteries so often, it is worth the effort to modify the setup to make an already great experience better.

[Andrew F. Ali]

Re: Roku 4 remote batteries draining out?

The Roku remote is constantly trying to 'pair-up'....so batteries drain quickly....ask for a new set-up from the Supplier....don't open it or try to fix it....

[diif]

Re: Roku 4 remote batteries draining out?

You're not leaving any headphones plugged in are you ?